I’ve been watching Star Trek and all the variants since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I’m 55 years old now but I suppose some might still refer to me as knee-high, though I am at the average 5 foot 8 inch, and a half in height. I’m not the most hard core of Star Trek nerds but I do take note of any new entries in the ongoing saga whether it be prequel, sequel, shared universe, or other. I admit it’s been a few years since I’ve gotten into anything Trek-ish but it does fulfill my sci-fi appetite. I like spaceships that fly through space and go on adventures so Star Trek: Brave New Worlds fills that bill easily.

I did watch Star Trek: Discovery for a few episodes but didn’t really get into it. Featuring Captain Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green I did enjoy the episodes I did see but either I cancelled the streaming service it was on (was it Paramount?) or just stopped being reminded of new episodes (probably due to canceling the streaming service it was on lol) so it just kind of faded away from me.

There is a nerd on YouTube I watch by the name of Steve Shives. He’s definitely a full on gung-ho “I know the bolt size on the bezeling which attaches the manifold of the aft torpedo tubes” ulto Star Trek type of geek nerd. He’s funny and does presentations on all things Star Trek. Everything from pre Captain Kirk to I’m sure post Strange New Worlds. He does a podcast as well which I’ve been meaning to check out, but he’s got so much content on YouTube which will probably keep me busy for a while. I think his favorite Star Trek show was Voyager. 😉

I’m into episode 4 right now. Just started the episode not too long ago and I’m at the point where Gorn ship just materialized and attacks Commander Pike and the Enterprise.

I’ve been enjoying Star Trek: Brave New Worlds for the most part but the thing that I am noticing is that the plot is built up for about 3/4 of the episodes run time and then the finale comes very quickly. It seemed rushed. It was most noticeable to me in the the very first episode of Star Trek: Brave New Worlds. In that episode a couple of pre-warp civilizations are at war and one side discovers warp technology. But instead of deciding to build spaceships, they decide to use the technology for building weapons of mass destruction to finally end the war as victors.

In that first episode Captain Pike aboard the Enterprise get’s news that a warp signature has been found on a world that heretofore did not have warp technology. This world was unknown to the Federation prior to detection of the warp signature which puts this episode in Prime Directive territory. It wasn’t called the Prime Directive then. They called it something else but my memory is failing me and I forget what that was. Anyways, the crew of the Enterprise surmise that if the warring civilizations use warp technology for the creation of bombs it would be much worse than Earth’s cold war nuclear ambitions. Instead of scorched earth the civilization might just crack the planet in half if they move forward with creating a warp bomb to deploy against their rivals.

Captain Pike of course ignores the Prime Directive (wow isn’t that novel) and decides to intervene on the planet to see if he might be able to talk the civilization delving in warp technology that they don’t really understand the power of their discovery. The civilizations in question are at a technological level at or slightly forward of where we are in the real world right now. After some back and forth from the two warring factions and each claiming the impossibility of negotiations, Captain Pike recounts the history of Earth’s America/Russia tensions and how two warring factions almost destroyed their own planet.

After showing some video’s of what Earth was like then and what it could have looked like if the Americans and Russians didn’t finally come to some kind of understanding, the two alien warring factions finally decide to negotiate. Pike then shows them the Enterprise parked right above their city and invites the two sides into the Federation, and all is peaceful once again.

After a great 50 minutes of the build up of the plot that last part fills the final 10 minutes and it seemed like there should have been at least another 10 minutes of the show. The ending came very abruptly and I felt a discontinuity on how the episode played out.

I’m pretty sure I got that same feeling when watching episode 2 or 3 but at this point I’ve become interested enough in Star Trek: Brave New Worlds that I’m now in the process of watching the first season. Fortunately for me the entire first season episodes are on YouTube now and I’ve been watching an episode every few days.

Because of the easy accessibility and my love of anything with a spaceship in it , I’ll probably watch the entire first season at the least. Those of you who know Star Trek lore know that ultimately Commander Pike becomes deaf, mute and paraplegic living his life in a mobile hyperbaric device. I’m interested to see that how that plays out and am wondering if we get Captain Kirk in season 2.

Well it’s all new to me at this point and I have something to look forward to. Unless things start going real bad and I get sick of watching Brave New Worlds, I’ll stick with it through this first season and then decide if I should delve into season 2.

As mentioned above I’ve just started watching episode 4. As this article will be over before I complete that episode, I’ll give my thoughts on it in a comment sometime in the next few days.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and try to live life to its fullest, or at the very least, in a way which leaves you fulfilled.